Knife-handle.



;4 rrnn stares riarnnr onirica f ISAO l?. SIGGINS VAND JAMES E. COOPER, OF PERRY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNORS TO ROBESON` CUTLERY COMPANY, OF PERRY, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION NEW YORK.

KNIFE-HANDLE.

incassa.

Specification of Letters Patent.

recent-ea Jamie, reis.

Application led May 16, 1913. Serial No. 758,123.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, Isae P. Siceins and JAMES E. COOPER, of Perry, in the county of Wyoming and iState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Knife-Handles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification and to the reference numerals marked thereon.

Our present invention relates to the manufacture of handles for knives and similar hand implements, and is more particularly`\ adapted to the manufature of handles for pocket knives and it h is for its object to` provide a sightly, strong and durable eml. bossed handle that may be produced rapidly and cheaply in large numbers by a simple method and shaped, if desired, in imitation of the familiar stag or bone handles seen on the better grades of cutlery.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and eiiicient securing means for attaching the handle plate to the scale plate or corresponding part of the knife or implement which securing means is of a nature that lends itself to a method wherein the attaching together of the handle plate and scale plate may be accomplished simultaneously with the embossing operation per formed on the handle plate.

To these and other ends the invention consists in certain improvements and combinations of parts all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claim at the end of the specification.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a tcp plan view of the female member of a die couple suitable for use in carrying out our inven* tion and for producing pocket knife handles constructed in accordance with our invention; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central section taken substantially on the line 2-2 of Fig. l; Figs. 3 and 4 are transverse sections through the die couple taken substantially on the line 3-4 of Fig. l, showing two steps in the operation of embossing one form of handle; Figs. 5 and 6 are similar views showing corresponding steps, respectively, in the o eration of embossing another form of hand e; 7 is a plan View of a scale view in section through the finished handle,

and Fig. 13 is a plan View of another form of scale plate for the construction of a handle such as that' shown in process of for mation in Figs. 5 and 6.

Similar reference numerals throughout the several figures indicate the same parts. Aside from the `cost of the material itself, one of the chief objections, from a manufacturing standpoint, to the use of bone, horn and other similarly frangible substances as handle plates for pocket knives and similar implements is that there is a considerable percentage of loss and Waste due to the cracking or chipping of the handle plate both in the course of manufacture and subsequently when the knife is in use. In the factory, the application of the rivets commonly used to hold the knife together and to secure the handle plates f thereon is perhaps the most frequent cause handle plate of the finished knife will often crack from simply being dropped upon -a hard surface. By the practice of our invention, on the other hand, handle plates in exact imitation of the less serviceable and relatively expensive materials mentioned may be made from paper and emerge in the finished article as a practically indestructible, handsome and more securely fastened element of the knife structure.

In the present embodiment of the `invention, we illustrate and will conduct our description with "respect4 to ythe making kof handles for pocket knives, but the invention has a more general application, as before indicated.

' To the'en'ds abpve pointed out, We prefer to construct the scale plate of the knife, to which the handle plate is directly connected and between a pair of which the springs, blades and linings are comprised, in the manner illustrated more particularly in Figs; 7 and 9 wherein l indicates the plate propel-2 the holsters and' 3 shallow flanges turned out\\'ardly substantially at right angles on the lateral edges oi' the plate'between the holsters. Within thespace de- -limitated by the said holsters and flanges, weasliperpose a baudle blank 4 conforming Substantially to the said space in general outline as shown, but preferably thick enough to extend slightly above the flanges 3,- asshown in Fig. ll. This blank Ll is preferably composed ot hard, black paper .or what is known as commercial fiber the substance oi" this nature largely used in electrical apparatus as an insulating material being eminently suitable.

Thetwomparts thus assembled are .laid within the cavityot a female die block 5 with the scale plate liuppermost and the blank 4 beneath. r-lhe bottom of the cavity with the exceptions of the end portions (3 which receive the bolstersnd hence may be plain is wrought/6r fashioned as shown at ,7.-in'tl'n1anner of an embossing die to constitute the cLlilDlement ofthe design that Y .itlismwlshed to produce upon the handle,

n esentl'rnstance, sim-uwhicIdesign;*inthe-1 lates the carved appearance of bone or stag asused on knife handles. At this point, the

blanlLft-fli'es"well above the-"surface 7, as

shown in Fig-'3" its corners resting on the Vsides ofthe cavlty whichre inclined or taperedteconverge toward the bottom as indicated at 48 for a purpose that will presently appear. i

The male die 9 is thenlbrought down and the plated and blank et driven down together atwise to the bottom of the cavity, as shown in Fig. 4,-and compressed between the` die members under extreme pressure, say in the neighborhood of twenty tons to the square inch, or suilicient to embed the desi-gn 7 upon the under face of the blank Lt. Simultaneously with t-his action, the fianges 3 `of the scale plate 1 are forced inwardly :from

the side by reason of the tapered Awalls 8 'of the die cavity and embedded inthe edges of the blank 4 which is compressed edgewise between them, as shown in Fig. 12. At the 'same time, the upper portions of the edges of the blank, usshown at 10 in Fig. 12, are

locally compressed laterally in a direction transverseto that ofthe embossing'pressure by reason of a similar and more direct action of the inclines 8 'andthe material in that region is caused to,l ina measure, fiow about theiiange 3 ineach instance and form an absolutely tight joint therewith. Ithniay be said at this point that in order to `"increase the ductility of the fibrous materialv the blanks 4 are preferably heated just prior to theiu introductionY between the `dies and pressed itvhile hot or, if desired, the dies themselves may be heated.

niet" Were it.nct for the `lateral or edgewise ycompression ci' the blanl 4.- as performed by yto disrupt the cohesion oi' its fibers, particuilu-ly at the exposed edges or surfaces. This W ncha-racteristir: has a parallel in and maybe understood trom the appearance of the edges of heavy cardboard or even those of thick hot pressed paper which may be readily split with the linger nail though the plane faces of the sheet are hard and resist the same attack. With the method described, however, the wedging action oi the walls 8 of the die combined with the direct pressure of the male die makes the actual compression of the "blank more pronounced and extreme in the Wregion ot the edges and the attenuated portions indicated at 10 in Fig. 12 as well as the corner that lits in the angle formed by the flange 3 and the body ofthe scale plate l are made practically impervious. lt is also evident that the securing flanges of the plate l are elrdredded so intimately into the material oi the blank that the parts are secured together beyond any reasonable possibiiity of separation.

While we prefer to *fasten embossed handle plate 'upon the scale plate inthe inanner described and in conjunction with the en'ibossing operation, it is apparent that the handle plate may' be embossed alone and subsequently applied to the `scale in any desired manner. llli/*shave indicated the operations on the blank alone in Figs. 5 and 6, however, the only practical diiierence being that the blank i is placed in the cavity of the female die alone as shown and the entire lateral, edgethereoi, in each instance, connes in Contact with and conforms itself to the tapered wall 8 which brings it to af Shar edge compressed by theA pressure in two d1- rections as above pointed out, to ay self-sustainingl hardness When removed from the' die, it is trimmed to a proper length to lit between the holsters 2 'and then riveted in place on the scale l,

Hcourse, the handle plaie in either instance is trinnned oil and buifed up in theusual f manner and it may be said in this connection that so hard is the Finished article that it res ionds to buiiinp; and polishing with a high gloss equal to that oi bone or stag' or any .the `clnalactelz set forth, comprising a die- `pressed embnseed ber handle plate and a 'Witnessem of the close grained materials and hae no ne `meansverse to that of the embosein pressure i0 of the dead appearance usually characlerls and the flanges of the scale plate eng emlic of articles magie from paper. bedded against the said edges.

l claim as my lnvention: A@ aix article of manufacture, a handle of W. D. LMSTED,

flanged scaleA plate, the handle plate having Saum Comma.

lateral edges locally compressed 1n a direction 

